I love me some superfriends decks, and I thought Bant had a good selection, so here it is! The initial idea was to pair Tamiyo, Field Researcher with as much Bant goodstuff as possible, however the more I worked with it, the more I realized that the planeswalkers in these colors were actually pretty solid feeling.
Planeswalkers:
Ajani Unyielding just feels so fun for my inner superfriends enthusiast! Look at the main for this deck. All permanents! That means his +2 will almost always net you at least one card, and if it doesn't, it just saved you from three straight land draws after you topped your curve! Not a bad deal in my opinion. Then his -2 is just Swords to Plowshares on a walker. It's worth pointing out, he can do this twice on just his starting loyalty. No other walker in standard can unconditionally remove two creatures without upticking them first. And his ultimate is the ultimate win-more! It essentially reads "Ultimate your other walkers"! How cool is that?!? Sure, you don't play him for that because the earliest this could happen would be turn 8, and that's with
Oath of Ajani
out, but this is still just so cool!
Dovin Baan just feels good in this slot to me. Negate their creature ability? Check. Draw some cards? Check. Soul crushing ult? Check. This is definitely a flexible slot, but I want to give the veldakin a chance, even if I half expect to swap him out for something else (suggestions appreciated).
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar: Because we need to win somehow! This beautiful beast of a walker hits hard. His +1 makes a very hard to deal with threat. His 0 makes a buddy. His -4, where not a super powerful ult, gets a lot of our creatures one step harder to kill, which shows up a lot in the current standard. There isn't a lot of good non-toughness based removal right now. That emblem goes a long way to save our guys.
Jace, Unraveler of Secrets: He's like a blue Ob Nixilis Reignited, and everyone who has played against me knows how much I love Naughty Obby! All in all, he's a well rounded walker for five. His +1 is some awesome card advantage. His -2 throws our opponent's off their tempo pretty well, and if you get his ult off, it can be devastating. All around, good card.
Nissa, Vital Force is how we actually beat other decks that run removal. That +1 gives us a huge beatstick for a turn (even huger if we have our Sylvan Advocates online). Her -3 can get back any card from our graveyard. Let that sink in. Anything they kill, Nissa gets back. Then if we ult her for the emblem (because why wouldn't we?) We get to draw so many cards, we almost can't handle them all. (if you haven't guessed by now, I love drawing cards).
And now for the reason I wanted to build this deck in the first place. Her story circle is the original gatewatch. She's one of the only walkers to have kids of her own. Her magic is within her stories. Give it up for Tamiyo, Field Researcher!!! This moonfolk of Kamigawa has the best +1 card draw in standard. I know, conditional card draw isn't always the best, but if you have two creatures out with vigilance (say, Sylvan Advocate and
Archangel Avacyn
perhaps?), and they both swing and block, you can get up to 4 cards off of that! Or, as is more likely, 2 cards, and they won't want to let you block as it gets you even more cards. (Did I mention that I love drawing cards?) Now, her ult is probably never gonna happen. I realize that. However, if it does, you kinda sorta just win? Plus, you draw more cards! (I may have a problem)
Enchantments:
Okay, so we are playing lots of planeswalkers, so let's do some oaths!
Oath of Ajani
works as a good psuedo ramp for the deck to keep the walkers fairly cheap. Plus, it's good in the late game because it makes all our creatures bigger when it enters.
Oath of Jace gets some good digging in, which is nice. Plus scry two or three each turn (yes, two or three walkers will be on the field at a time if you play this right) is not half bad. Although I will admit, this is another flex slot.
And then there is
Oath of Nissa
. Let's be honest, if you're playing a deck with lots of walkers, you want this card. Dig three for one mana alone is decent. But also make our walkers easier to cast? Yes please!
Creatures:
Archangel Avacyn
: We play a lot of walkers, and the best way to deal with a walker (Well, apart from a Ruinous Path) is to attack it. Flash in your Avacyn, block their guys. Your guys live. I know that we only run two of this card that so many people run three or four of, but since we are running so much card draw, the odds of us getting to the late game without seeing this are practically zero.
Reflector Mage: We run blue and white, we run Reflector Mage. That's kinda just how standard is right now. Bounce their guy. Throw off their tempo. I actually proxied up a deck built entirely around abusing this guy, Panharmonicon, Thought-Knot Seer, and Eldrazi Displacer, but decided that abusing him was just way too mean. Seriously though, this card is insane. You'd be a fool not to run some non zero number of him right now.
Selfless Spirit: Nobody likes being on the receiving end of mass removal. This keeps us safe from it. Plus, we run Avacyn. Sometimes she'll flip and kill most of our guys. However with Spirit, she only kills him. How selfless! Seriously though, this guy just makes combat so much better for us.
Sylvan Advocate: The Tarmogoyf of standard! Sure, that title may be a bit of a stretch, but it is not without reason. He buffs our Lumbering Falls into a decent threat. His vigilance makes him work well with Tamiyo. And if he's online when we have a Nissa, Vital Force on the field, her +1 becomes a three turn clock! Card is good guys. Card is good.
Tireless Tracker: The third most flexible slot in the deck if we are being honest, this card is still pretty good. This is one of those cards that if left unchecked can just get huge and win the game on it's own. Plus, I personally just like the investigate mechanic. Sure, we already draw a lot of cards, but it's just so cool. So for now, I think I want to keep him.
Anyway, that's the deck. Any suggestions would be welcome.
